OPINION: Talk of the Town

Teachers, attendance key to a good school

I’ve enjoyed the Journal’s exchange of opinions on the subject of education, featuring the Journal’s Community Council and various writers either within or familiar with APS. I have a different perspective on the issues raised because I co-founded both a small public charter school in Roswell (I’m not an educator, but my co-founder was) and a small business.

When putting together a teaching staff to start the school, my first thought was, “Wow, these guys don’t make any money.” Sure enough, when I looked at teacher salaries in New Mexico compared to other states we were well behind the pay grade of most of them. Probably the most effective thing the Legislature has done over the last several sessions related to education is to raise teacher salaries so that we are now competitive with our neighboring states. So please stop the whining about “throwing money” at teachers. The good schools are good largely because they have a cadre of dedicated teachers who run the show, and you can’t recruit and retain teachers without decent salaries.

The most astonishing thing that I gleaned from reviewing the most recent data provided by the Public Education Department (see nmvistas.org) is the very low attendance level at many schools in the state. Writers on all sides of education issues have pointed this out, but I think it needs emphasizing because you can’t possibly expect kids to meet grade level expectations if they’re not in school. The Legislature and school districts (and parents, for goodness sake) must remedy this failure.

Finally, I have learned that running a school is not the same as running a business. If you have an obnoxious or troublesome employee you can always fire them. If you have an obnoxious or troublesome seventh grader, well, welcome to middle school.

Bob Carroll

Albuquerque

Bumpy interstates are a bad look for NM

I recently traveled through several Midwestern states, and noticed that the interstates in Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas were mostly bump-free and very well maintained. Then I hit the New Mexico border and everything changed. Bumps and holes on Interstate 40 are unforgivable. I know there is money to fix these but I see no effort to repair the roads and I cannot imagine how many people have to rebalance their tires or pay for other repairs to their automobiles after a ride on our interstate. Not a good look for our state when we want to attract tourists.

Liz Bagker

Los Lunas

Lack of housing is driving homelessness

Pete Dinelli’s May 24 column, “The city should stop funneling money to the homeless population,” is certainly an uncomfortable message to stop wasting money on the unhoused who “refuse to accept city services.” But underneath it is a very comfortable message that when people are poor and suffer it’s their own fault.

It is disturbing to know that people wind up on the street through no fault of their own, but the predominant cause of homelessness is the shortage of affordable housing. The local cost of rent has increased much faster than wages. Many who now sleep on the streets or in shelters arrived there recently after living paycheck to paycheck. It’s not that such people refuse help. Just one local shelter at HopeWorks currently has 1,700 active clients receiving services, and city-supported programs for the unhoused tend to have long waiting lists.

Yes, it is difficult deciding how best to use limited public resources when there are so many needs. To collectively dismiss suffering people as undeserving may alleviate consciences, but it’s no way to determine public priorities.

William Miller

Albuquerque

Gun checks at border are long overdue

Congratulations to Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., for raising the issue of controlling the illicit shipment of weapons to Mexico. In his letter, he states that, “In fact, anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 weapons are smuggled into Mexico every single year and a whopping 70% of firearms recovered at crime scenes in Mexico are traced to the U.S.”

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has been raising the same issue.

An example of how lethal these weapons are was the attempted assassination of Mexico City’s former Chief of Police Omar García Harfuch by 28 gunmen in broad daylight in Mexico City in 2020. They wounded him and killed two of his bodyguards and a woman bystander, using .50 caliber weapons.

Will we take Luján and Sheinbaum seriously and at least initiate random checks at our ports of entry? On Easter Sunday, I was stopped at the Sasabe port of entry south of Tucson by five U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. When they said they wanted to search my car, I said I was thrilled, that a process of checking for weapons was long overdue. However, in subsequent border crossings in Juárez on May 4 and Palomas on May 9, there were no agents in sight as you drive southward into Mexico.

We need a true partnership with Mexico in order to resolve the issues of drugs and human trafficking. Checking for weapons could be part of it and at very little cost to us. Thanks to Luján for raising the issue.

Morgan Smith

Santa Fe

Independents looking forward to primary

I’m not sure why Jeff Tucker believes that people who are not affiliated with either of the major parties are stubborn. I am almost certainly stubborn but I doubt that it has anything to do with the fact that I am registered to vote as an independent. According to recent statistics quoted by Pew Research, about 35% of registered voters in America are registered as independent or something else, more than either of the major parties. Perhaps that just reflects that these voters are so disenchanted with both parties that they don’t want to be directly associated with either party, rather than any inherent stubbornness they might have.

Like Jeff, I am optimistic about Sam Bregman’s chances in the Democratic Party primary. I will likely exercise my new right to vote in that primary and cast a vote for Sam.

Patrick Dee

Albuquerque

Primaries shouldn’t be open to independents

Open primaries are no longer party primaries. They are ballot primaries. I beg to differ with Breahna Roark’s column: “Opening primaries to independent voters improves inclusivity and representation.” Isn’t it interesting that Roark is the president of University of New Mexico College Democrats, yet is not a Democrat? She states she is a registered independent.

Opening primaries to voters who are not a member of that party would be much like allowing my kids to attend the birthday party of a neighbor’s child even if we don’t know that neighbor. OK, you might say that is a tad far-fetched, but is it really? I see no reason to invite to my party’s primary someone who is not of that party. Yes, some say that does not promote inclusivity and representation, as does Roark. That’s exactly my point; every voter has the right to vote in an election, but should they have the right to vote in the primary of that neighbor they don’t know? I say no.

Jeffrey Paul

Albuquerque